In industrial plants there is often a high demand for precise modelling tools to create electronic representations of complex plant pipe systems. One type of surveying tool for this task is laser scanning, which may be used to measure a collection of three-dimensional (3D) coordinates for points on surfaces in the environment. After scanning and generating the measured point cloud, the electronic models of the pipe systems are created via cylinder fitting methods. The pipe joints (e.g., elbows, tees, reducers, and crosses) are usually catalogued part types. They are not typically defined by incident pipe axis angles. Indeed, they are usually produced with fixed predefined pipe axis angles (e.g. a ninety or forty-five degree elbow). The use of cylinder fitting methods to define pipe joints in this manner leads to small gaps between the joints and the fitted pipes in the resulting pipe models.
Usually, plant pipe models are made for design analysis packages, which are used for piping isometrics and simulations (e.g., fluid dynamic simulations). To use the plant pipe models in this kind of analysis, the pipe system connection points at each joint have to be collinear, or perfectly aligned, with the opposite connection point of the other pipe or joint fixture. Hence, the pipe model does not only have to be precise, but is also constrained to being contiguous (e.g. water-tight) without gaps.
To align multiple objects to each other several constraints have to be satisfied. The alignment of systems with loops may in general not be solved analytically. These kinds of problems lead to configurations in the kinematic image space that have to be manually investigated. The more complicated the problem, the more difficult it will be to find an analytic solution. Loops in the system lead to additional constraints. Therefore it is not always possible to align multiple objects using an analytical approach.
Accordingly, while existing modeling systems are suitable for their intended purpose, the need for improvement remains, particularly in providing a system for generating electronic models from a point cloud which removes gaps from between components.